iOS 7 and the rejection of the unfamiliar

Thoughtful post from Chris Clark on the changes Apple made in iOS 7, the realities of the design languages old and new, and what it means for developers and designers. From his Release Candidate One blog:

Apple just reset the baseline for what is considered native. They’re changing the definition of familiarity. Like a government moving to the metric system or ridding itself of the penny, this change will cause a lot of difficulty for small businesses and piss off a lot of old-timers. But it’s ultimately for the best. iOS 7 is a new platform for us, and it’s time to port our iOS 6 apps.

It'll be interesting to see 4 months, 8 months, 12 months, 24 months from now not only how Apple has evolved iOS, but looking back, how our perceptions of this week's changes to iOS have evolved. When the final version is put into general release, what will be bad and what will simply be different?

Reader comments

iOS 7 and the rejection of the unfamiliar

I just want the icons to be polished. There are a lot of inconsistencies between them. Also I just want the gradient effects to be toned down a bit. That's it. That's all I want from apple for the final release of iOS7. A little bit of refinement, especially the icons.

Pretty much what he said. I'll actually like the larger targets (in buttons, icons, etc - not needing to aim for a small button area and instead a whole section will certainly make navigation easier), but the icons certainly need refinement...

Being a web designer and passionate about everything aesthetics, Apple just committed a grave mistake.

I was afraid of all of that because people just repeated words (simple, modern, flat, etc) without understanding the consequences. I.m talking about power users, who undertand that Apple is all about design and quality.

The problem is that Apple listened, and now instead of being a trend creator they are "following" trends.

Its just unforgiving if you tried iOS7, its a huge step backward, inconsistent experience, awful colors and icons, and with all flatness the install file still the same 1.2 GB for iPhone 4S and its not running smoothly. based on Apple records it will take them up to iOS 10 in order to finish or fix or hopefully ditch it entirely on all over iPhone, iPad, Mac. Don't fool yourself that it's still in beta because the final version will almost look the same, maps still in beta, Siri still in beta and Apple has a long history of slow polishing or still-in-beta stuff.

Apple is doomed. None of their iconic elements are in iOS 7. Everything stripped in favor of ugly design stolen from Android, Windows Phone or the Jailbreak community. What is the real point of all this crap? Will make it prettier? No, it doesn't take a genius to tell you that. iOS 6 was smooth, light, beautiful and the new iOS doesn't help in any of these.

I don't know how Apple bloggers and fans are still defending that, seriously?! A meaningless 3d color-bubbles icon for Game Center? that's what you asked for? you don't like a button to look actually like a button? why? because its an old-school?

Tell the truth so Apple may listen to you. Don't just try to justify whatever Apple does. Tell them that the new iOS 7 looks ugly? Don't try to convince yourself otherwise. Not every shit by Apple considered an iShit, and people are supposed to love it.

I'm not updating to iOS 7, and after 6 years I'm not gonna buy the next stuff from Apple, simply because of that tasteless design direction they chose. Jony Ive is a one-trick pony guy, who is only skilled in industrial design.

I'm a web designer. I always use beta versions and surprisingly on my official iPhone not a testing unit. All the points I mentioned have nothing to do whether its a beta version or finished. And for you information, the final product will not differ drastically on what you can see today, it will only be more stable nonetheless.

I agree with most of what you stated.
I think they should have adopted more of a gradual evolution. The less technically inlined will not like it to much. One of the advantages of iOS was how intuitive it was, non threatening, so much so people that would never go out and spend lots of money on tech felt comfortable in doing so. Seniors and very young children. Now I'm not sure, cutting edge look might seem more complicated for seniors. I have iOS 7 installed and I let my senior family members take it for test. Guess what they thought it was more complicated, even thou basic functionality is the same I believe the look of ios 7 inimidates them.

wait, so you're saying that older people might have a slightly more challenging time adapting to something that is new and changed from what they know? That has never happened before, with any other product ever in time. Never ever.

But honestly, the basic functionality is the same. If they can navigate ios 6, there is no reason why they shouldn't be able to navigate ios 7, because it fundamentally relies on the same types of interactions. I have confidence that they will adjust.

Well that is just your opinion, after all. And though you may be a web designer, that doesn't make your opinion any more insightful than anyone else's. And there are other prominent developers, like Marco Arment, who would disagree very strongly with your claims. And to say that Apple is doomed, is at the very least, extremely premature, and really doesn't lend very much weight to your credibility.

But hey, have fun on those other platforms. We are all very happy for you.

I agree! I absolutely hate the new look and I hope there's a way to go back to iOS6's look or can apply a new theme or add colors. Sorry I don't care for the update and I too will not be waiting in line for the next Apple product.

I'm using IOS7 and don't get when people think its much different and will cause people problems. The structure is the same basically you slide to unlock choose an icon and run an app and use the home button and it works the same. Sure there are some different icons but it's not like we dont have icons anymore and we have some other menu system. SUre there is a different theme but thats such a basic thing these days. We still have a dock. I don't get whats so radically different in the operations of the system.

I'm an apple fan but this ios7 beta is disappointing!
It is ugly with colors washed out rather than trendy. But most importantly the Flat buttons are confusing... The marvel of iPhone if you look a round is that people of all ages can use it. Grandads and young kids. This transformation makes it the preserve of the IT power uses. Simplicity, beauty function all missing from ios7

I understand where you are coming from, iOS 6 looks visually polished compared to iOS 7. I used iOS 7 for a few days and went back to 6 mostly because its buggy. I would like to think that its because its in Beta that somethings look bad and they haven't finalized the UI. I wasn't a big fan of the folders, I think they should rethink it and the maps app looked stripped down during navigation. Other things looked good though.. I think its all about taste in the end, I love modern design and minimalism so a Minimalist iOS appeals to me. I just think there are a few things that need to be improved on to make it great. The Icons are horrible though, the color palette is too but I like the general direction iOS 7 is going in, it just needs major polish.

Hated reminders, hated the new notifications with the 3 tabs and especially the missed tab.. What's that about? However, I don't don't dislike iOS 7 as a whole, I just think there are a bunch of ideas that they need to rethink. Most of which you have pointed out. But let's see how it is, once its finished, I have always trusted apple with design, I'm sure they aren't blind. They will come through in the end.... Hopefully.

I agree, both with your comments and your general attitude, but one thing worries me more about this transition than previous transitions of this nature, which is that in many cases, it seems they are throwing out good workable design and replacing it with design of lesser quality, based only on dogma.

There are many examples, but one is the camera app icon. The original looks exactly like the actual camera on the device itself and cannot be mistaken for anything else. It's also a very attractive, clean design.

It's being replaced, only because it has a "representational" quality, not because it does a bad job as a camera icon. What's replacing it, is a flat square with a bad symbol graphic of an old-style SLR camera. This is the kind of icon design that you are warned never to do in Design School. It relies on the "symbolic" picture of a camera in the same way that "save" icons had pictures of floppy discs on them.

The Settings icon is another example. A beautiful well-designed and drawn icon that clearly indicates what it does has been replaced with a flat square with a made-up symbol of some kind on it. Over time, we will get to identify this silly new symbol with "settings" but the only thing "wrong" with the one we have now is that it is (unfortunately) slightly 3D looking.

We are getting rid of these icons only because of the dogma of the flat design language, they are in fact superior designs relative to the new ones, they just don't fit the new "regime."

There is also a whole article somewhere by a very smart fellow who argues essentially the same thing about the iOS "back" button.

You make a lot of sense and I agree with everything you have pointed out. I made a lot of these observations but might be a little bit more forgiving of them. You are a designer by trade and training so u are passionate about it, so I understand your standing be it based on principle. I thought the new icons were shit still hope they get changed. I think your attitude might be the right one though. Maybe we should take a stand and say hey apple change those shit icons, don't revert them but make a better more meaningful flat design version and not the shit version you currently have.

The problem my friends is that it took Apple 5 years to polish iOS up to iOS6 which still has its share of inconsistencies (that needs a separate post). So, just imagine who much time will be spent (wasted?) trying to polish this new shit.

What hurts me the most, there are lots of design elements I really considered as an Apple heritage or sacred stuff, which Apple chose to ditch completely in iOS7. This is totally alarming.

The death of Steve and Forstall departure impact begins to appear and unfortunately in the worst way possible.

If IOS 7 is so offensive to you, then dont upgrade to it. SIMPLE! you love IOS 6, keep it. I for one love everything about IOS 7 (apart from the icons obvz) You have your opinion and you are entitled to it, but dont come on here posting like a raving lunatic as if your opinion the only one that matters.

He pays for his iPhone, he's allowed to share his opinion, he might be a little bit more passionate than most but that's good. He's the kind of person that can make a change and not just sit around and get fucked in the ass by apple and their bad decisions.

Yeah he's shared it about 15 times! thats not sharing an opinion, thats forcing it. Just because you think its a bad decision doesn't mean it is. A handful of nut jobs on a website dont account for the 6 billion people on this planet.

I have the right to do whatever as long as I'm not talking bullshit. I gave you proofs, examples and moreover. I have bought all the iPhones every year, iPad every year. I've dedicated my 7-year blog to talk everything Apple. What about you? do you have any valuable relationship with Apple? I've invested in a lot of high quality apps only for the quality design I only find on iOS, for example: Tweetbot, weightbot, convertbot, Reeder, Camera+, Infuse, Flight+, Sooner, DCovery, Park Guides, DJay, iWork, etc all of which are skeuomorphic and will be forced to change the design in the next update.

I cant stick to iOS 6, the next iPhone and iPad are coming and they will be having iOS 7 by default and iOS 6 will not be supported anymore cuz developers will not build different versions for different iOSs.

oh yes you are the ONLY person that has invested anything into Apple. Let me get you a tissue to wipe away those tears.

WHY DONT YOU GROW THE F*CK UP?!

Change has happened, no amount of whinging is gonna do anything! There are just as many people who like the design and changes as there are that dont. The problem for you is they are here to stay. I for one celebrate them!

You are so pathetic. You don't even have a valid opinion to share. Like 95% of people on Earth who are just "repeaters" they repeat, retweet, reshare, they don't even have a brain to use and make their own judgements.

And btw, the icons, which you obviously hate, are about 80% of the whole iOS7, so, you already gave the system your disapproval.

I was waiting for you to offer your insights without bashing others. Say something useful/valuable or STFU

you havent given any insights, you just keep saying its awful without actually explaining why. The only thing youve said is the icons are awful, which everyone is in agreement on. Other than that youve slated things which are obviously Beta glitches.

oh and how did i know this? because im intuitive, i play with the OS as apple intended it to be played with. I dont just criticise it because I havent given time to learn about it. Ive been using it for a week on my main and only phone. I love it

If these boys are giving you a hard time, come on over to WP Central. From a design perspective, Windows Phone is a top choice from the typography to the UI transitions, its more aesthetically pleasing in my perspective. I took some classes on Web Design so I think my opinion holds some value here.

Gradly is a freaking moron. From reading this argument I feel that he/she is losing badly. And the icons are 80% of ios7?! It seems to me that you pulled 100% of those statistics out of your ass buddy.

Edit: I read this from your "blog"

" Actually, the popularity of iPhone among young and old generations was 90% software success."

Just proves my point that you like to make up percentages/statistics whenever it is helpful for you without any proof as to whether these are accurate or just pure bullshit you made up.

how are elements like green felt and fake wood textures polished? It's always screamed cheap and insulting to the user, and I'm glad Apple has burned those motifs to the ground. It totally contrasted with their premium hardware. I say good riddance.

Because you aren't a fan of them. Doesn't mean they weren't executed well, that's a taste thing. I like textures, I didn't care for the green felt but I loved the linen and leather textures. I thought it was amazing that something digital gave me the feel of real life. With that said, I am not opposed to the changes being made in iOS 7. I welcome them and look forward to a more modern minimalistic design as long as its executed well and not actually worse than they originally were. That's the point. Some of the items are worse than the original. The icons for one are bad. I have seen other designers take the icons of iOS 7 and make them better still keeping the flat design. So it's not a flat vs skeuomorphic thing. It's a good design vs bad design thing. I want a flat design. I just want it to be good!

This is an interesting point that I haven't seen raised before. One of the qualities of the original iOS was that even babies could use it. Presumably, the flattening of the icons *might* interfere with what a baby could perceive as a "button." It would be hilarious if it turned out that babies can't use iOS 7 now.

Funny stuff, I actually showed iOS 7 to a 6 year old today and she said it looked like it was made for babies.. To me that says it all, Apple tossed iOS into the wood chipper, and is now trying to pass off a cheap, half ass, hideous, worse than amateurish OS on us. It looks like it has no design at all, like it was designed by an engineer, or someone designed it with a typewriter.

iOS was in need of some major updates, what people were not expecting is for Apple to completely trash everything good about it and give us this rainbow brite inspired garbage.

If Apple released the product as-is, there will be major issues, but I expect to see lots of updates between now and then. Using iOS7 for almost a week, and jumping between the old and the new, there are things that I love about the new OS. The Camera app makes it a lot easier to change settings, turn on the flash, etc. but hopefully the UI is tweaked, because the tiny text "buttons" are difficult to use and and the font doesn't match the rest of the OS. There are color issues throughout the OS. The yellow text on white in the Notes app is one example. The thin white font on the lock screen and in the buttons (like the call answer buttons) that make them difficult to read. There are really tiny hit spots for the text-based buttons. The Slide to Unlock is very unintuitive. That said, I expect all of these things to be improved in subsequent betas. It will be interesting to see what we see next in a few weeks. I like the direction it's headed, even with the rough preview.

everything changes nothing stays the same I don't think they changed the icons i think they changed the whole system icon was just a casualty , by 7.01 everyone will be saying it the most beautiful os. Now the new Iphone can grow wider instead of just taller, now it doesn't have boundaries , please just get over it, eventually people will be able to use there phone all day with out even touching the screen

I use my iPhone to read iBooks all the time. The only time I don't look directly at the screen is while I'm calling somebody = 3% of my total time; so, the look and feel are key to Apple, not to mention, they in particular are what made the iPhone go mainstream in essence.

It a bad day for apple when they stop innovating and become thieves of windows phones designs not only that but there talking about dealing a cheap iPhone so now you have one IPhone with a premium feel the cheap version with a cheap feel to it like a 79 dollar android Steve jobs would be rolling around in his grave if he knew what apple was doing

Steve Jobs told Tim Cook not to think about what he would do but to do what Cook thinks is right. Jobs is dead. Thankfully Apple is moving forward and isn't paralyzed with WWSD syndrome. I think this was one of the best WWDCs in a long time. All the executives looked like they were enjoying themselves up there. Craig Federighi was so smooth but didn't come across as the smartest guy in the room like Scott Forstall often did. And Tim Cook sounded so much more natural and relaxed. Less whisper to crescendo in his voice. I think WWDC was the start of Apple 3.0. Steve's not rolling in his grave; he's saying "Well done Tim".

So you bring up a couple tiny parts of iOS that were the worst offenders??? Game Center actually looked good, it looked like a classic game board or something you'd see in Vegas. Now it's just a sea of white, like a refrigerator with some ugly 90's era bubbles.

What about the realism? The very things that made iOS so popular? The things which looked real to all of us on the iPhone, when on other devices they still had that cold lifeless digital look? The textures, the shadows, the borders all throughout iOS which gave it character, soul, and life. Now it's just a sea of white, cold and lifeless, zero design in the OS whatsoever. They killed the soul of iOS that attracted so many millions of people.
Just look at the bookshelves in iBooks, it looked like a real wooden bookshelf, now it's just a piece of white paper, its a 20 year regression in design, back to the days of ms paint and clip art.

Of course, I don't expect any objectivity from apple fanboys who defend them at all costs.

how is ios 6 not cheap? green felt? fake wood? glossy bubbly icons? a notes app that is supposed to look like torn legal paper? those elements disgust me. They insult me as user. Thank god Jony Ive was given the helm on ios 7.

I mean I did get rid of my iPhone 4s and got a windows phone the main reason was that there will be games that will never come to ios for windows phone that I like lets see halo Spartans assault, Gears of war just to name a few I know ios has there exclusives but to me I needed halo sorry plus I love my wp8 phone io is my second choice down with android.

I'm not a fanboy I just preffer winows phone ios still a good os but it just got old on me the same thing year after year and when they did change it they couldn't even be original it a slap in the face to every body who owns a iphone

The problem with the article is that it is a simply a set of unfounded assertions, e.g. "ultimately for the best." This would normally be fine - it is after all, an opinion piece - except the entire point of the piece is to dismiss the gamut of contrary opinions as reflexive familiarity bias. It does not entertain for a moment the possibility that other arguments may have merit, or attempt to deconstruct them. It plugs its ears and slaps a label on those who disagree, and that is anything but thoughtful.

Great article, but personally I'm getting tired of the plethora of articles telling us to "calm down" and so forth.

I already love the new design, but the truth is that it does have horrible design inconsistencies. There are numerable things, most especially buttons and icons, that are quite the step backward in usability from the previous versions. Many buttons also have multiple different versions in the OS as if they haven't even decided on a final style yet. Many of the icons themselves are just hideous and many different designers have stepped forward to say so. I'd like to see a large, comprehensive article that picks apart some of the very real inconsistencies and problems with the new UI.

It looks great overall, but we shouldn't have to wait for iOS 8 or iOS 9 to iron out these horrible flaws and mistakes. They are trivial, graphical things that can and should be fixed now.

Please lists the inconsistencies you see in ios 7. I'm not saying you're wrong, but I've seen a lot of people say there are a bunch of inconsistencies, but the only example I've gotten so far are app icons and some buttons.

1. On app icons - you don't want app icons that all look alike. the purpose of an app icon is to be unique, to stand out, so you can find it quickly while scanning. Apple is actually using a more restricted color palette in the design of ios 7, which applies to the app icons as well. the icons have also been designed using a grid like foundation, which actually does give them some cohesion. And how are the app icons less usable?

2. As far as inconsistent buttons. From the examples I've seen so far, the buttons are actually fairly consistent throughout. Apple's WWDC video "what's new in iOS" has a slide that lays out all of the buttons used across the entire system on one screen. It was pretty obvious that most of the buttons were consistent and cohesive. A few buttons had heavier weights than the rest, but it seemed appropriate to me in consideration of the type of button and what app it was used in. I didn't check every single button, so there may very well be some buttons that are inconsistent, but I didn't see any on that slide.

I hate when opinions are stated as fact. Especially when people wrap it around "many designers said so". I haven't used it so I won't give an opinion until I do. But we do know they tried to do A LOT in a short amount of time so there's plenty still to do. I chalk up a lot of the inconsistencies to perhaps trying too do too much in too little time. Jony Ive called this a beginning. It may be several years before we 'get' the new iOS and where Apple is going.

Lets not forget how unfinished iPhone 1.0 software was (even though that was in development for several years). I mean the first iPhone didn't even have cut/copy/paste for gods sake.

I agree. To all the people complaining about this an that its a beta!!! It's not finished!! Do u think that Apple of all companies would release a choppy unfinished crappy operating system for its iconic iPhone for the masses to shut down comin get real

While everyone likes to argue that the green felt color in the Game Center icon was bad.
I took the time to look at it and and it did not make me puke at all.
In my mind the icon represents exactly what it's going to launch.
When I see the green color I think of a Pool table when I see the Chess piece I think of....a game of Chess!
I really tried to look at it with the same level or hatred that everyone complains about but I can't as the icon design just makes sense including the color!

In IOS7 one of those marketing folks felt that balloons of many colors represents playing Games or Game Center. Ewwww"

Now lets take a look at the Newsstand icon ( Folder based icon )
Once again I appreciate the fact that someone took the time and passion to create such a beautiful thing. I loved how the ICON/Folder looks and I like how Newsstand worked. I only wished that when you opened it that it would use the whole screen and not just some of it. I also wish that the mags would work like iBooks allowing me to turn the pages! Why do I like such skeu. Because its just cool and creative!
The icon could not be moved into a folder because it was itself a folder. That did not bug me at all!
In iOS7 ....where do we start? Once again one of those marketing folks decided that having no taste is the best taste of all !
The icon has the most basic depictions of anything I have ever seen.
It resembles clip art in fact it may very well be clip art because let's keep in mind this is the marketing team not the app design team. ( who knows if they would have done any better )

It gets worse!!!! When you launch Newsstand on iOS7 there are no shelves at all just lines and colors. It's very unattractive!

I would like to hope that due to this being a beta release, all the ugliness is there!
Apple when STEVE was alive was a company that based its soul on form over function not to say that things didn't function on the contrary there products function quite well!

Apple never cared about what Android or windows was doing!
Steve said that MS just has poor taste. No original thinking. No culture! He went on to speak about type setting and beautiful books etc.

I hear many folks say " it's not nec to have a reflective dock. Yea but its cool to have it.
It's also not nec to have a beautiful woman or handsome man ( for the ladies ) but its sure way cooler!

See due to apples products always performing well they don't have to spend so much of their time on functionality. They can spend time on the way it looks as well as how it functions.
There is a user experience when when one can turn the page and it works like a book would work. Anyway I like iOS 6 I hate iOS 7 I hope it gets better because soon I will be forced to deal with it as I'm buying the new ipad retina whenever it's ready.

Anyone who likes IOS7 likes windows and Android thus explaining why they welcome the change of IOS7. I hate windows ( the look of it ) I hate Windows phone both hardware and software. I also hate Android thus explaining why I love iOS 6.

The Dock I'm iOS 7 is well...well...it's not even a dock at all its just a area where the icons can sit. The original iPhone had this look and I'm glad they decided to create a place for these icons to sit. Now in iOS7 it's just poor taste and very goofy!

I read this article & most of the posts on Dec 16, 2014 and it struck me how much I agree with the OP and how much more I hate ios7/ios8's decreased usability now than I did on day 1 of downgrading up to ios7 in September 2013. Someone above wanted concrete examples of the worsened functionality beyond bland icons?

- the data selector roller wheels are MUCH harder to read now, with all the small black font on a plain washed out grey background. With iOS6, I could read the selector roller wheels much easier & reset my alarm without having to put on my glasses. Now it's impossible to set an alarm w/o putting on glasses.

- on the dialer page, there's no "area prompt" above the keypad to signify where it's possible to paste a phone #. For the longest time I didn't realize that it was possible to paste a copied phone number there.

- on the camera app, where you select photo-video-square, without the old slider graphic, it's not at all intuitive that you need to slide in order to select one. It took several minutes to realize that you slide and not press. So unintuitive.

- All the light grey font on bright background is so very very less easy to read. Absolutely amazing.

- The stopwatch app used to have large green & red buttons so that it was instantly intuitive to know what to press to start then stop the stopwatch. In fact, it could be done with peripheral vision. Now with the start & stop buttons being represented by greyish circles with faint green & red app, one is required to stop, think, and act. Less functional, less intuitive.

- When trying to call someone from the Messages app, it takes 3 presses to get there - first you click "Contact," then the phone icon, and then Voice Call. Before I think it required only 1 press. And, why does Apple now shove facetime down our throat? Notice how after hitting the phone icon, you don't instantly call back the person but instead you are offered 3 options to voicecall, facetime, or cancel, yet when you hit the facetime icon, you instantly go to facetime.

- the small round buttons on the dialer are harder to use than the larger square buttons with more "landing space" for your fingers. If given the choice to walk across the grand canyon on a sidewalk that was 3 feet wide and continuous, or on a bunch of circles that were each 1 foot diameter and with spaces between the circles, which would you choose?

- the iTunes app album sorting often unnecessarily relies on showing album art, which takes up too much room and prevents being able to fit more titles on the screen for less scrolling.

- the iTunes app always notifies me that I don't have iTunes radio cellular access turned on and makes me click past that EVERY TIME. You'd think that the fact I don't have it selected in Settings would be enough.

- Though this doesn't involve true functionality: the bookshelf app, where wood shelves once existed and now gradients are used "represent" shelves (there's so much wrong with that, I don't know where to behin), it's mind-blowing that Ive's team felt that this was "better" or more acceptable than the "gross" wood shelving representation. I would have respected him more if he nixed the gradients and just showed magazine & book cover icons on the screen, just like how Apps are shown. This is just another example of ridiculous / bad design, as is the fact that iPhone 4 users were forced to accept the upgrade w/o option to go back. My iPhone 4 was instantly paralyzed by iOS7 because the phone was unable to accommodate the new clunkier, slower, "improved" iOS. And I don't want to hear that I should just upgrade the phone - money doesn't grow on trees and -the phone was barely 3 years old and way too young to be rendered barely usable by iOS7. Poor design by Ives & Cook.

- All the flat design and loss of 3D-looking buttons and window'd input text areas make me have to think & hunt way too often compared to when iOS6's cues made using the iPhone easy, to where it "just worked."

Before I got my first iPhone (iPhone 4), I had a palm treo for many years, even before the iPhone 1 was introduced. Very little of the apps & operating system UI "just worked" - in fact, a lot of it was clunky. But at the time I liked it because it was the best option to me of all options available pre-iPhone. After I graduated from it to the iPhone 4, I was amazed at how much better a smart phone experience could be. Everything just worked compared to my trials with friends' android devices that seemed to require me to ask them to explain certain things often when I'd fiddle with them. Now that ios7/ios8 has removed a lot of the "it just works" and introduced the need to fiddle & guess often for the first time one uses a new app, the magic is just gone.

I read somewhere that Jony Ive's idea of good design is not putting in just the right amount of things, but rather, to remove enough until there's no longer anything left to remove that doesn't affect performance. Well, congratulations. Instead of keeping the iPhone as something that was "The Only" option for a phone to me, the iPhone is now just the "A Little Better Than Android or Windows option," and for the first time, my eyes are open for potentially a non-Apple option that reharnesses that magic and that element of good, full, rich design again.

One more thing: At the heart of it all, it was obvious that Ive re-wrote the book of iOS mostly to be different and not to really introduce top-notch function across the board. Things worked pretty darn well (if not near-perfectly) before, and it's almost as if Ive felt compelled to change things for the sake of change. So guess what - one day iOS7 will feel "old," and all the internet people with loud typing fingers and without better things to talk about will be clamoring for "fresh iOS" and something "new" looking. With Ive having removed so much, where else can he go from the flat iOS7/iOS8. Will he add back in some of the richness that used to exist, or try to remove even more? Maybe even go to greyscale? Just ridiculous.